The Hourglass
by Alyse22
Summary: A Marauder-era story describing important backstory characters and what lead to their choices.
1. In a Hurry

DISCLAIMER: No, I don't own any of these characters, places, etc. They belong to JK Rowling and Warner Bros.

A/N: This is my first ever fanfiction. Please leave your honest opinion, good and bad. I'll only continue if you guys want me to.

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CHAPTER ONE: IN A HURRY

Lily Evans stomped the snow off her boots and glanced side-long at Mairan. The dark-haired girl, seeing her best friend's impatience, took another deep drag on her cigarette and motioned towards the doors of the castle.

"Go ahead, go in to dinner, I'll be in in a second," she said weakly, coughing a little as she exhaled.

Lily looked wistfully towards the castle, where the brilliant gold lights of the Great Hall twinkled invitingly, promising warmth and excellent food. "I don't know…" she said warily, glancing around. "If Professor Sprout or Hagrid comes by, you could use a Prefect's help."

"I'll be fine, go, go on in. Maybe I'll catch Bella Black trying to nick mandrake leaves again and earn us some points," Mairan teased. The girls laughed together at the shared memory of the Slytherin girl's horribly botched attempt to brew her own Contraceptive Potion, which resulted in the worst episode of PMS Madame Pomfrey had ever seen, as well as a particularly gruesome case of acne.

"Alright, I'm going in, but I have my doubts that Miss Bellatrix is the Black you're waiting for." Lily waggled a suggestive eyebrow at her friend, and then dodged the light smack that followed. Still laughing, the Gryffindor girl started off towards the school, trudging through the heavy snow. It was a short walk from the greenhouses to the castle, so Lily didn't bother magically melting the snow as she had most of the way back from Hogsmeade.

Upon entering the Great Hall, she couldn't help but laugh as Sirius Black, glancing furtively around, slipped past without noticing her. Lily knew her mischievous best friend well enough to know that the pleasure of a forbidden cigarette wasn't enough to keep her shivering behind the greenhouses in the bitter cold. The Gryffindor Chaser, however…well, that was a different story. Lily didn't particularly care for Sirius, but if anyone was a match for the notorious womanizer, it was Mairan.

"Lily!"

Lily jumped a little, having been so intent on getting to the Gryffindor table and sitting down to devour her dinner that she hadn't even noticed Florean jump up from his seat at the Ravenclaw table and begin making his way towards her.

"Hello Florean," she said cautiously.

"I've been looking for you," her fellow Prefect told her, taking her arm without a thought and leading her to his House table. "How was Hogsmeade?"

"Oh, it was fun. I'm sorry you missed it…Florean…I can't sit with you tonight."

Florean paused and looked at her in surprise. "Why not?"

"I need to have a word with Frankie about Dueling Club, and then I really need to find Professor Slughorn and ask him some questions…about an assignment." She was lying, and her throat felt a little dry with guilt, but she didn't think she could stand being polite and nodding along with Fortescue as he eagerly told her all about his latest Transfiguration experiments. He was brilliant, and friendly, but when he got into his research, he really couldn't stop talking. She'd be stuck beside him as everyone left the hall and the plates started disappearing, and she really wasn't in the mood. Besides, she really did want to talk to Slughorn.

"Oh," Florean blinked in surprise, then shrugged. He paid little attention to the social goings-on around the school, and to Lily's relief, didn't see her rebuff for what it was. "I'll see you tomorrow in the library, then?"

"Umm, yes, I'll be there after the Quidditch match."

Florean blinked again. "Quidditch?" He said the word in his trademark bewildered tone, as though he'd never heard of such a thing.

"Yes, my friend Mairan is Keeper for the team," Lily explained.

"Oh, well, see you later then…" He wandered back to his table, looking disappointed. Lily hid a smile, knowing it was a captive audience he was missing, rather than her company. With a sigh of relief, she saw that the seat next to Frankie Longbottom was open, providing convenient backup for her excuse. She sank into the empty seat and began doling mashed potatoes from a nearby bowl onto her plate.

"Hello Lily. I saw you at Rosmerta's earlier but it was too crowded to say hello," Frankie smiled apologetically in his sweet, simple way that reminded Lily why she enjoyed his company so much.

"That's alright, I'm sure you were a little preoccupied. I saw you with Alice Malkin," Lily liked to tease her shy friend just for the pleasure of watching him blush fiercely. "I thought she was studying at the Auror Academy?"

"She's home for holiday break. And anyway it's nothing really, our families know each other, so we spend time together sometimes…oh, stop smirking at me like that!" Frankie grew a little defensive. "I'll have you know, I saw you talking to Potter as well."

Lily gave a rather unladylike snort and swallowed a mouthful of food. "Hardly. He was boasting to anyone who would listen how he plans to single-handedly take down the entire Hufflepuff team tomorrow. Arrogant git."

Frankie shrugged. "He's not so bad. Remus likes him."

Lily opened her mouth to reply when movement from the staff table caught her eye. Slughorn, laughing uproariously, smacked Professor Flitwick a little too hard on the back and sent him flying into a platter of dinner rolls. Professors Sinistra and Sprout immediately jumped up to assist the small man, Slughorn apologizing profusely between hiccups.

Lily dropped her fork with a clatter and stood up. Now was an excellent time to speak to her Potions professor alone. She paused and looked down at a bemused Frankie.

"Need to talk to Slughorn…Oh, before I forget, can we reschedule tomorrow night's practice? Most of Ravenclaw's got some sort of mild dragon pox going around and it's probably pretty contagious."

Frankie shuddered and nodded. "See you at the match tomorrow?"

"Definitely, see you then."

Lily hurried out of the Great Hall, pretending not to hear the several hails she received from her classmates. She was well-liked, and she certainly wanted to stay that way, but right now she had more important things on her mind.

Slightly out of breath, Lily skidded to a stop in front of the Fat Lady. "Kneazle," she wheezed.

The Fat Lady smiled and swung forward. Lily clambered through the portrait hole and set off briskly across the common room. Luckily, she'd finished dinner before most of her Housemates and wouldn't have to make any excuses in here. She took the steps up the girls' tower two at a time, and threw open her dormitory door. She tossed her bag onto her bed; she'd unload the things she'd bought in Hogsmeade later. Rifling quickly through the rolls of parchment on her desk, she grabbed the simple Muggle notebook she'd been looking for and set off for the dungeons.


	2. Research and Development

When she reached Slughorn's office, Lily paused and opened her notebook. She flipped through the pages until she found what she was looking for. Her mouth moved slightly as she quickly scanned the page, making sure all of the information that she needed was present. Taking a deep breath, she closed the notebook and rapped on the door.

Scarcely a moment later, the door opened and Lily blinked; no one seemed to be standing in the doorway. My sixth year here, she thought to herself, and I'm still not used to magic. Then she noticed that someone had, in fact, opened the door, and that this someone was far shorter than she had expected.

"Yes, Miss?"

The creature looked up at her politely, its wide, protuberant eyes simply blazing with subservience.

"Are you a house-elf?" Lily knew it was a foolish question; but, though having heard of the creatures, had never before seen one at Hogwarts.

"Yes Miss, I is the house-elf of Master Slughorn," the elf said proudly.

"Oh, er...is the Professor in?"

"I is checking for you, Miss." The elf gave her a knowing look, and then disappeared back behind the door. Lily fought the urge to crane her neck and peer at the thing, so novel was its appearance to her. She was curious, but didn't want to appear rude. Some of the older wizarding families might view house-elves as equal to furniture, but Lily knew better than that. She was a Muggle-born, after all; hadn't she experienced the same condescending view of her own station? Yes, and had lost an old friend to the outrageous prejudice. Lily blinked back angry tears.

At that moment the door was thrown wide open and Professor Slughorn himself appeared.

"Lily Evans! There's only an hour until curfew, you know," he winked and wagged a stubby finger at her.

Lily smiled. "I won't miss it, Professor. I just wanted to ask you a few questions about potion-making. I've been doing some independent research, and-"

"Independent research!" Slughorn waved her inside his office with a chortle. "Of course you are! You wouldn't be Lily Evans, first in her class, if you weren't!"

Lily felt herself flush. "I'm not first, Professor, not at all. Why, Fortescue in Ravenclaw, and Widimore in Hufflepuff, not to mention-"

"Yes, yes my dear, but you are first in Potions, and we all know what an accomplishment that is!" Slughorn beamed at her and stuffed himself into the large armchair behind his desk. "Sit, sit. Tea?"

"No, thank you. I won't be long, I just have a few questions."

"Ask away, my dear, ask away."

"Well..." Lily hesitated, unsure of how to proceed. To give herself more time, she opened her notebook once again and stared briefly at the page. She looked up. Slughorn was looking at her expectantly as the house-elf filled his teacup. Her hand trembling, Lily simply held out the notebook.

Slughorn set down his cup and took it, looking interested. "Muggle paper, eh? Old habits die hard, I suppose." He chuckled and fished a pair of reading glasses out of his jacket pocket.

As he began to read, Lily looked away, feeling ovewhelmingly nervous. Why hadn't she checked her figures again? If she wanted to be taken seriously, if she wanted Slughorn's help, she should have prepared better, she should have-

"Miss?"

Lily jumped, looked around, and then at waist height, realizing that the elf was speaking to her again.

"Is there anything I can be getting for Miss?" The elf waited patiently while she collected herself.

"No, thank you, I'm fine...thank you." Lily felt distinctly uncomfortable as the elf bowed deeply and disappeared into the adjoining room. She couldn't bring herself to look at Slughorn as he scrutinized two years of her life spent in study and research. When he finally spoke, she wrenched her gaze away from the photograph of himself and Bathilda Bagshot sitting prominently on the mantlepiece and forced herself to meet his eyes.

"Miss Evans...Lily...it would take me weeks to check the veracity of this research, but just glancing through it," he paused and flipped to the next page, "you've either discovered some very important information, or you're damned close!"

To her surprise and relief, Lily saw that her professor appeared excited and impressed.

"How in the world...?"

She cleared her throat. "Well...I read that many of the wizarding world's most deadly diseases have been eradicated through eugenics potions, regeneration potions, tissue replacement potions...always potions. I was...interested in the subject, so I decided to learn about diagnosis and treatment of these illnesses. I found out, as I'm sure you already know, that Healers diagnose disease by replicating the patient's exact genetic imprint, and then dissecting it...exactly how you would detect poison in a potion and remove it. And this simple treatment works in hundreds of cases of very severe illnesses...wizarding illnesses. And I thought, well...why not take it a step further? We've given Muggles medical knowledge before, so why did we stop with Polio and influenza? What about cystic fibrosis, and MS?"

Slughorn was frowning. "Yes, I understand the reasoning behind your research perfectly. But what I don't understand is how you've come to the conclusion that Muggles can be cured the same as wizards. You know magical genetic imprinting isn't possible with...people of non-magical origin."

"Yes, you're right," Lily was growing more excited. "Exactly right, however, if there was a way to imprint and dissect their genes, chromosomes, cells, and tissues the way wizards can, we could cure them as well. Our imprinting may not work on their bodies, but our potions do. It would be a simple matter of adjusting them to the separate levels of magical and non-magical chemicals in Muggle blood. I've cited several cases, such as the conversion of our influenza cure into theirs, and our Polio vaccine-"

"I understand that, Miss Evans, and of course you're not the first to conceive of such an idea. But...do you mean to tell me that you've discovered the solution to that rather large 'if'? Are you...are you telling me that you've discovered a way to genetically imprint Muggles?"

Lily hesitated. She was on the edge of her seat now, feeling an amazing rush at finally being able to reveal her years of work to someone who understood it completely, but she didn't want to get ahead of herself. She would feel unendurably foolish if her research turned out to be faulty after all, if she'd made some deadly error.

"Professor Slughorn...I'm only a sixth-year. I've done this research on my own, with only the resources that Hogwarts and various bookstores could provide me, cross-referenced with Muggle medical textbooks. But I believe...I believe that, impossible as it may seem, my information is correct. I believe...I believe that I really have discovered a way to..." her mouth was dry, she couldn't even say it out loud. But she didn't have to.

"A way to genetically imprint Muggles," Slughorn finished the sentence for her in a raspy voice, his eyes glazed with wonder. Jerkily his hand moved to the sleeve of his jacket and he withdrew a silk handkerchief. He swiped his brow with it, grabbed his cup of tea and drained it in a single gulp.

There was silence in the office for a moment. In a crazy, detached part of her brain, Lily heard what sounded like the house-elf whistling faintly in the other room. She stared at Slughorn, and he stared back. Finally, he cleared his throat, his expression grave.

"Dumbledore. He doesn't specialize in potions, but together he and I could verify your research fairly quickly. We would have to submit it to the Ministry of Experimental Science to obtain permission to study on a practical subject...there will be all kinds of red tape in that area...but Dumbledore is the only person, besides myself, that you should trust to do this for you. You're underage, so you can't do it yourself, and you don't want to go waving around information this valuable anyhow. Either do I, for that matter," Slughorn admitted.

"What do you mean?" Lily asked, confused.

"You would be a target. Anyone who claims to have such informaion would be a target. First, because people will want it for themselves, either to claim it as their own, or to destroy it. Purists," he added, seeing her brow crease. "Lily, there are people who will not want us using magic to cure Muggle diseases. I'm sorry to have to tell you that, but it's true."

Lily nodded, understanding. "I know," she said softly. "I wish it wasn't this way, but...you're right. If this is real," she swallowed hard at the implications of that little 'if'. "If my research is correct then...this changes everything. I know."

Slughorn surveyed her over his reading glasses, then removed them. "Dumbledore, then?"

"Yes, but...not tonight," Lily was seized with an impulse that even she did not fully understand. "If I'm wrong then...well..." she looked at Slughorn miserably, and he seemed to understand.

"You don't want anyone to know? Even Dumbledore?"

Lily shook her head, feeling ashamed of her cowardice. "Dumbledore made me Prefect last year while the Purists were protesting Muggle-borns even attending Hogwarts. I don't want...well, I just couldn't stand it if I were embarrassed in front of him."

Slughorn smiled. Lily knew by the knowing look he gave her that he was under the impression that she harbored some sort of school-girl crush on the headmaster. Well, let him think that. The truth was, if Dumbledore knew this research was hers, he would complicate things. Oh, of course he would push it forward and do all he could to make it known; he cared about Muggles. But he would know why she had done it, why she had spent two years sleeping only a few scant hours each night in order to reach this triumph. And he would forebid her to use her own research as she wanted to. And she couldn't have that.


	3. Gossip and Goodwill

"James!"

James Potter jerked awake, blinking sleepily and looking around. His best friend Sirius Black was standing above him, grinning.

"Quidditch today, last match before the holidays! Up, up you get!" Sirius pointed his wand at James, pretending to glower threateningly. "Do I have to levitate you out of that bed?"

James groaned. "What time is it?"

"It's eight o'clock on a beautiful Sunday morning, and it's time to flatten Hufflepuff."

"Why are you so awake?" James demanded, sitting up and running a hand through his messy black hair.

"Haven't slept yet! Get up! There's coffee in the Great Hall with your name on it." Sirius walked briskly over to his wardrobe, extracted a pair of gleaming black arm guards, and began to strap them on.

James stared at his almost-manic, sleep-deprived friend. His gaze slid over to Peter, who was smiling foolishly at him, and then to Remus, who was immersed in a book and paying neither of them any mind at all. His hunched-over position sent an inexplicable pang through James' chest. After a moment, he realized why: he looked like _her_, so studious like that.

Sirius interrupted his thoughts again with a hearty slap on the back. "So are you coming, or what?"

James got out of bed slowly, his mind elsewhere. He dressed, started for the door, and glanced back at Remus. "Coming, Moony?"

Remus looked up, the dark circles under his eyes thrown into sharp relief. "I'll be down in a second, I want to finish this section."

Sirius shrugged and headed out the door, Peter trotting along closely behind. James followed, still preoccupied, and promptly tripped over the very first stair leading down from the boys' dormitory. Peter giggled and rushed to help him up. Sirius gave an exasperated sigh and brushed imaginary dirt off of James' shirt.

"You're thinking about her again, aren't you?"

"No," James replied defensively, not meeting his friend's eyes.

"Yes you are. Well, if it makes you feel any better, Mairan told me herself that there's nothing between Evans and Fortescue."

James smiled a little, finally betraying his pretense. "Thanks, Padfoot," he said awkwardly.

"No problem mate. Now, I've already been outside, and the conditions are great, it's very clear-"

The boys were instantly distracted, launching into a detailed analysis of their game plan. Peter took their brooms from them without them even noticing and carried them contentedly. They were just arguing about the quality of Hufflepuff's Keeper when Mairan joined them, taking Sirius' hand and joining the debate.

James looked around. Mairan, who was no fool, grinned at him. "She's coming to the match, don't worry."

James groaned at the transparency of his emotions and took a seat at the Gryffindor table. His House members noticed them, then, and he was again distracted in the deluge of praise and encouragement. Happily, he tucked into a bowl of oatmeal and resolved to concentrate on the match ahead.

The rest of the Gryffindor team joined them shortly, looking nervous in some cases and complacent in others. Breakfast passed uneventfully, except for a brief, half-hearted exchange of insults between the team and some passing Slytherins.

Finally, it was time to make their way down to the pitch. They stomped on the ground, evaluating it for lift-off, stared at the sky to be wary of the sun's glare, and passed into the changing room. Sirius, as Team Captain, launched into his traditional pep talk.

Meanwhile, in the entrance hall, Frankie Longbottom was waiting for Lily. She hadn't come to breakfast, but that was nothing unusual. As much as Frankie admired his friend's brilliance, he worried sometimes about her health. Just as he was contemplating whether he should say something about it to her, Lily herself appeared, looking unusually refreshed and cheerful.

"Nice day out, isn't it?" Lily beamed at him as they descended the steps to the front lawn, and Frankie was suddenly struck by her beauty. He was thankful that he had never thought of her as more than a friend, a sister perhaps, because at that moment she looked lovely enough to turn anyone's head. And she was doing just that, at the moment; several of the male students that passed them looked back in awe, looking for all the world as if they'd just been hit by a particularly strong Jelly Legs Jinx. Frankie smiled, amused at his friend's complete obliviousness to her own charm.

"Definitely," he agreed. "Madame Dierks predicted a blizzard, I was a little worried..."

The friends laughed at the thought of their ridiculous Divination teacher actually making an accurate prediction. They made small talk and laughed all the way down to the pitch, in a way that only the carefree attitude of the young can achieve. They took their seats behind Soleil Delaunay and Emma Jenkins, two fifth years they knew rather well from Dueling Club.

"Lily! Have you heard? Rumor has it that James Potter swears to catch the Snitch in less than three minutes. Can you believe him?"

Both girls shook their heads, but looked as though they admired the audacity of the popular Seeker. Lily rolled her eyes at Frankie, who smiled indulgently.

"Hello girls. Going home for break?" Frankie was well-liked by the Hogwarts girls himself, for his quiet manner and polite smile.

"I am," Emma said, smiling a little flirtatiously at him. "My parents are Muggles, this is a rather religious holiday for them. Soleil's staying, though."

Lily looked at the other girl in surprise. "You are? Frankie said your parents were coming to his family's Christmas Eve party."

"Oh they are," Soleil turned her large, luminous eyes towards Frankie and smiled vaguely. "But I want to stay and study. They were disappointed," she admitted, "but I just can't bring myself to leave the library right now."

Lily almost questioned her, then thought better of it. Last year Severus Snape had confided in her a rumor that Soleil was engaging in a particularly questionable matter of Transfiguration research, one that may or may not have been entirely legal. Lily had played with the idea of mentioning the rumor to McGonagall, their Head of House, but had decided against it. It was just a rumor, after all, and besides, Soleil wasn't the only Gryffindor doing covert independent research. Lily thought it would be surpassingly hyprocritical of her to turn the girl in for something she herself was doing.

Her train of thought was lost abruptly as a roar of cheers and jeers echoed around the stadium. The Gryffindor and Hufflepuff teams had gained the field and were lining up to await Madame Hooch's whistle.

A moment later, and they were off; Sirius Black quickly gained possession of the Quaffle and headed for the Hufflepuff goalposts. He was forced to spiral stupidly as Jack MacMillan sent a Bludger his way. In the confusion, Mitch Moore of Hufflepuff had wrested away the Quaffle, done a sharp about-face, and was streaking towards the opposite end of the pitch. Mairan quickly began weaving in and out of the goalposts, determined to block the Quaffle. It passed her in a blur, headed directly for the right goalpost; Mairan swiveled about faster than Lily's eyes could follow and reached for the Quaffle. She managed to grip it and pull it back before it passed through the hoop. She shot up, waving her free arm in a quick celebratory move as the Gryffindor fans stomped their feet in approval and the Hufflepuff section groaned as one.

The Quaffle was soon back in play, and the game continued, the Chasers dodging each other and Bludgers, passing the Quaffle, dropping it, losing it, gaining it. Meanwhile the Seekers chased and dove at each other, neither seeming to spot the Snitch.

"So, Frank..." Lily was losing interest in the match. She kept an eye on it, not wanting to miss some spectacular save by her best friend, and addressed Frankie. "Tell me more about Alice."

Predictably, Frankie blushed again. "Well...I like her. Rather a lot."

"I haven't met her," Lily admitted, "but she's very pretty. She left Hogwarts the year before last, right?"

"Yeah...she's three years older than me. Is that weird?"

"Not at all. Look at Lucius Malfoy; he left last year and he's still after that second-year, Andromeda. Ugh. Now that is weird."

Emma turned around, having caught the last bit of their conversation. "Ooh, you mean Andromeda Black? Creepy as hell, isn't it? Sirius has been keeping him away from her, she's his cousin, you know. I heard that the Blacks promised her to the Malfoys the day she was born." Emma shuddered. "Pure-blood families are so gross!"

"Hey now," Frankie protested. "The Longbottoms have been pure, strictly through chance, mind you, for as long as anyone can remember, and we don't practice bizarre rituals like that."

"True," Emma admitted. "I suppose I should say Purist families. I met your mum, Frankie, she's far-out. I saw her threaten to hex the manager at Eeylops for trying to sell her a diseased owl."

Frankie laughed. "Sounds like my mum...oh, look, Gryffindor scored!"

They all turned back towards the game, but after a moment with no further developments, conversation returned to Andromeda.

"I heard she's planning on disavowing her family," Emma whispered conspiratorally.

"She's dating Ted Tonks."

Emma, Lily, and Frankie all looked at Soleil in surprise. It was rather unexpected for the girl to pay any attention at all to social matters, let alone be proxy to key information. She blinked at them in surprise as they all stared at her.

"How do you know? And why didn't you tell me?" Emma demanded.

"I thought everyone knew." Soleil shrugged and turned back to the match. "I saw them together at Madame Puddifoot's last Hogsmeade trip."

"What were you doing at Madame Puddifoot's?" Lily asked curiously, before she could stop herself.

"Meeting someone. I was...shopping."

The others exchanged uneasy glances. Frankie cleared his throat and changed the subject with his usual tact. "A Slytherin, promised to a Malfoy, dating a Hufflepuff Muggle-born? Merlin's balls, when this gets out..."

Lily and Emma shuddered simultaneously. "This cannot be good," Emma said.

Frankie nodded. "It's all we need right now, more Purists parading around the front gates, protesting Muggle-borns."

Lily sighed and thought about her conversation with Slughorn the previous night. Why did everything have to be so complicated?

An uneasy silence persisted, which was broken suddenly when Hufflepuff scored. Frankie, Lily, and Emma groaned, while Soleil stared off into the distance smiling faintly. None of them spoke for the rest of the match, which resulted in Gryffindor scoring twice more, a rather spectacular save by Mairan, and James Potter finally catching the Snitch.

Lily snickered. "So much for three minutes," she said, feeling a little cruel. But James Potter was a git, so who cared?

The rest of the afternoon was absorbed with a raucous celebration in the Gryffindor common room, elevated even further with the happiness of those going home to their families the next day. Lily and Mairan were giggling happily on a sofa together when James Potter and Sirius Black appeared in the portrait hole, holding up several cases of Butterbeer to wild cheers. They handed most of them over to Peter Pettigrew, who was quickly swamped with people wanting a bottle. James and Sirius fought their way through the crowd and stopped in front of the girls' sofa.

"Merry Christmas!" Sirius shouted, tossing Mairan a bottle, and then handing one to Lily. The girls tapped their wands on the corks simultaneously, clashed their bottles together with the boys', and they all took rather large swigs of the delicious liquid. James Summoned another sofa right out from under a couple of second-years, who looked indignant and then laughed and shrugged. Lily laughed too; she felt in good spirits, and didn't even mind when Mairan jumped up and exchanged seats with James, leaning on Sirius shoulder. He kissed her heartily and James smiled tentatively at Lily, and then wider when she actually smiled back.

"Going home tomorrow?" His voice was casual but he felt overjoyed not to receive an instant rebuff from Lily.

"Yes, of course. Are you?"

"Yeah, and Sirius too, he's coming home with me."

Lily glanced at Sirius in surprise. He didn't notice, being rather preoccupied by Mairan at the moment. "He is?"

James looked serious. "Sirius always comes home with me for the holidays. Since second year."

So the rumors are true, Lily thought. The Black family really had disowned him. She felt a sudden flood of good-will towards Sirius, and to James too. Maybe he did have a heart after all.

"D'you wanna play Gobstones?" James asked suddenly. He knew that Lily was terrible at the game, and grinned, trying to lighten the mood.

Lily made a face. "How about Exploding Snap? Loser eats a Cockroach Cluster."

"Make it three and you're on," James grinned, raising his wand and Summoning his playing cards.

The rest of the night passed rather pleasantly, with Sirius, Mairan, and Remus Lupin joining in on the game while Pettigrew looked on. The highlight of the night culminated in Sirius losing narrowly to Lily in the final round and being forced to consume the nasty sweets while the common room chanted encouragement.

When Lily and her roommate Hannah finally dragged themselves upstairs (Mairan having disappeared with Sirius an hour previously), the clock read three a.m. Lily dressed slowly, her head spinning a bit. Butterbeer did not contain alcohol, she knew, but rather a mild Inebriation Charm that increased with each bottle. The giddiness she had felt earlier was finally wearing off, and she was a little dizzy. She fell asleep hiccuping, her last thought that she hadn't packed her trunk for the holiday home yet.


End file.
